Friday, 2 December 2016

Russell James Returns, Naked

I am always invigorated when I get a chance to read a
narrative by writer Russell James, who Ian Rankin refers to as ‘The Godfather of British Noir’. I first
met Russell when he was Chair of The Crime
Writers Association [CWA] at the Dead-on-Deansgate Crime Convention in 2001.
Many of us recall those events fondly, hosted by Waterstones Bookstore in
Manchester; which were the precursor to the Theakstons
Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. I recall the friendship that resulted
with Ed and Cathy Wright following the Saturday Dinner following Russell James
presenting the CWA Debut Dagger to the former Naval Man from Arkansas, turned
Crime Writer, Ed
Wright.

I was asked by the NY Chapter of the Mystery Writers of
America [MWA] to write about my memories of Ed Wright, as well as the
importance of organisations such as CWA and MWA for writers and readers alike.

Though based in California, Ed’s award winning crime
fiction was first spotted by the British, thanks to the CWA Debut
Dagger Competition; in fact many American and Canadian writers have made it
big first in Great Britain, before breaking out on their their native shores,
such as Meg
Gardiner, Linwood
Barclay, Gillian
Flynn and many others.

Over the years, it has been good to bump into Russell
James at various
events when our diaries cross, and I am always keen to see what he’s been
up to in his writing, as well as his reviewing for Shots.

In time for Christmas, I see Russell has a new work
entitled Mother Naked.

For Ruth’s 100th birthday the family gathers in a remote hotel.
They deplore her scandalous past – but might they have worse secrets of their
own?

Ruth worked at the Windmill in her youth
and behind her back is criticised by the family as an ex-stripper notorious for
her complicated love-life. They say that in the war she drove her first husband
to kill himself, and that she married her second husband only to provide a
father for her young son.

Her four children now range in age from 60
to 75 and their working lives are virtually over. The eldest, Freddie, born to
Ruth’s first husband, has in the last ten years put on a lot of weight. His son
and daughter are there, but he no longer talks to his son. His sister Lucy
stands aloof, nursing her drinks, while Charles, five years younger and the
richest in the room, has come with his new wife, a Lithuanian half his age –
much the same age as his two sons. Noticeably missing is Ruth’s even more
successful youngest son, Jack, now Lord Jack, considered an outsider by the
others and assumed not to be their father’s son.

As the rain teems down outside and the
hotel staff keep serving drinks it seems the guest of honour may never arrive,
during which time her children and their own children reveal family secrets.
Well plied with drink they do not hold back and are more garrulous than they
ought to be. By the time Ruth does arrive we have learnt that their true
histories are not as they would have us believe. They are not always as they
believe themselves to be. So can we believe what they say about Ruth?